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sense games and hiding games are examples. 

 These serve to stimulate children in new ways 

 and contribute a new element to their enjoy- 

 ment. In view of the varying needs which the 

 games meet as a whole, and the opportunity for 

 happy comradeship which they afford, it is not 

 surprising that they should be rated among the 

 most valuable of the agencies which the kinder- 

 garten, employs for the child's development. 



Purposes of the Work with Materials. Be- 

 cause it furnishes the child with occupation as 

 well as companionship, the kindergarten meets 

 another of his fundamental needs. It does 

 this by means of its organized play material. 

 This was originally devised by Froebel, but has 

 been improved in recent years, as the result 

 of a better understanding of the child's devel- 

 opment. It consists of a series of educative 

 playthings, which Froebel termed "gifts," and 

 plastic materials, such as sand, clay, paper, etc., 

 by means of which the children can carry out 

 their own play motives. The gifts consist of a 

 set of balls, one of each of the six standard 

 colors; of a set of the fundamental forms the 

 sphere, cube and cylinder; of four sets of 

 cubes, each differently divided for building 



purposes ; and of several series of tablets, sticks, 

 rings, lentils for plat representation. The plas- 

 tic materials sand, clay, paper, etc. are used 

 for modeling, folding, cutting and weaving. 

 These lines of work Froebel designated as 

 occupations. The gifts and occupations were 

 intended to complement each other and to 

 form a system of play material. The general 

 purpose is to provide material that will keep 

 pace with the child's advancing intelligence by 

 its own increasing complexity. 



The play with this material satisfies the 

 kindergarten child, because it gives him the 

 opportunity to experiment and to carry out 

 his own play purposes. The material can be 

 used in numberless ways. If the kindergartner 

 wishes to gain an insight into the interests and 

 abilities of the different children, she allows 

 them to choose their material and the use 

 they wish to make of it. Equipped with such 

 knowledge, she can plan work that will satisfy 

 them and lead in right directions. 



If she wishes to know how fully the children 

 have grasped the essential features of a house, 

 and what power they have of expressing this, 

 she will give them all the same material, and 



